1) Baby rabbits
2) Dates set up by mutual friends
3) Rear view mirrors
4) Bats
I was going to write a list of local blind items in the manner of Gatecrasher/Page Six, but everything I came up with just seemed too mean-spirited. How am I going to make it as a writer in New York City if I [...]
Category > Local news
Charlottesville blind items
Destined for greater things: a listicle
1. The apple that rolled off the passenger seat of my car and disappeared forever into the interior.
2. The novels in my head, the whale in my dream, the dreams in my heart. The throw-up in my mouth.
3. The bottle of vodka, the carton of eggs, the ovaries of eggs, the pocket of money.
4. The [...]
The library is never open long enough - see you in 2010
Today we say goodbye to this year’s Virginia Festival of the Book. If someone had told me way back in the last century that I would be guest blogging for a major festival in 2008 and 2009, I would have said, “Blogging. That must be something you do from a flying car.” Turns out that [...]
Personal regrets from past book festivals
The following luminaries were in Charlottesville on March 24, 2004, for that year’s Virginia Festival of the Book: Michael Chabon, Edward P. Jones, Clyde Edgerton, and Michael Ondaatje. Did anyone who reads this blog see them in person? Did anyone buy them a drink, or if they don’t drink, a club soda? Did anyone gush [...]
Equal opportunity bullying on the mean streets of Charlottesville
Yesterday I was jogging past the parking lot of the auto body shop, imagining all the different car accidents responsible for the wreckage, when I was approached by a pair of nine-year-old girls carrying Fiddlesticks. I’m not usually intimidated by nine-year-olds, but these girls decided to pick on me because they perceived me - wrongly! [...]
The VA Festival of the Book contains more human interest stories than the Oscars
We all know that John Grisham used to practice law, but did we know that Harley Jane Kozak, a VA Festival of the Book Crime Wave headliner, was the beautiful Buckman wife serenaded by Rick Moranis in Parenthood? You remember - “Nathan, we’re trying so hard to keep these kids off drugs.” I loved her [...]
I am experiencing the usual emotions: excitement, terror
Tomorrow we fly to the land that gave us Junot Diaz, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Julia Alvarez. At least they have all written about the Dominican Republic. Everything I know about the world south of the border I have learned from novels. I’m expecting a lot of old, winged men falling from the sky and [...]
The Virginia Festival of the Book is like Bonnaroo but for sexy people
Why do I say that? No reason.
I’m outrageous!
The truth is the Virginia Festival of the Book is better than any music festival you can shake a porcupine pie at and that’s because the VFB doesn’t buy into the whole concept of “cool” or even that of “music festival.” The VA Festival of the Book doesn’t [...]
We had a wedding and what a wedding it was
The wedding can best be summarized by our guests who filled out mad libs throughout the evening. In lieu of a live blog, I believe their combined words tell the tale:
After four years of dating, Darren finally skunked Wistar in Portugal. With the help of their ugly monkeys, Darren and Wistar finally married on December [...]
The Virginia Film Festival is in my backyard eating all my popcorn
The Virginia Film Festival takes place in Charlottesville this weekend! Granted, it’s no Virginia Festival of the Book, but UVA has now thrown this party 21 times to tremendous acclaim. And the weekend promises to be as exciting as anything possibly can be without a nonstop parade of serious books and authors. Movie stars have [...]
